Lebanon bats come alive late

DANVILLE — The Lebanon softball team didn't record a hit in the first three innings Tuesday night in its Sagamore Conference match-up with Danville.

But the floodgates opened up in the fourth inning and the Tigers went on to an easy 11-1 win against the Warriors.

"We have talked about making the adjustments at the plate," Lebanon head coach Steve Smith said. "Sometimes it takes a game to make the adjustment and other times it takes a couple of at-bats. We didn't make the adjustments against this pitcher right away. It took our No. 7 hitter to get things going with a big double. It was a good game; I just would like to see the adjustments earlier."

In the first three innings, all the Tigers' offense could muster was a one-out walk by Madelyn Smith in the third.

But in the fourth inning, the bats got going. Lexi Reese got the first hit of the game for either team with a one-out single. Two batters later, Lexy Britt singled to put runners on first and second and Paige Keller singled to score Reese and make it 1-0.

Kendall McCollum followed with a 2-run double to make it 3-0.

Danville got a run back in the bottom of the third inning, but Lebanon continued its offensive eruption in the fourth.

Whitney Cosgray and Ashlyn Montgomery hit back-to-back singles leading off the inning and Carly Greene promptly hit a triple down the left-field line to score both runners.

Reese's double scored Greene, and Danielle Bruner's RBI-single made it a 7-1 game.

"We started letting the ball get into the strike zone," Smith said. "I just think they want to hit the ball when they get in the box and they were way out in front of it. We finally let it get in the zone and were able to hit it."

The Tigers scored three in the sixth inning when Madelyn Smith scored on an error and Greene belted a 2-run homer.

Greene finished the game 2-for-5 with a triple, home run and four RBIs.